flying_dutchman2

All frames and templates copied and cut out ready to be taped to wood.

Hi there;

This is my first scratch built.  I’ve thought long and hard about it and the last kit (HMS Bounty – Constructo) I built, I changed numerous items as they were not accurate to that year it was built. So if I can do that, I can build a boat where I am in complete control.

I decided on the Statenjacht “Utrecht”, because I love the lines from (plat bodems) flat bottom boats. I bought the book on the Utrecht from Seawatch books a while back because I am interested on how they built the replica. In the late 80’s I had a friend who worked as a volunteer carpenter on the Batavia replica in Lelystad, The Netherlands and I was with the amount of wood that went into building that boat.

This year I purchased another book on the Utrecht authored by Gilbert McArdle, also from Seawatch books. This gave me insights on how to build the boat. I will not build it the way he did it.  I will not do a “no deck boat” where you can see the interior. My plan is add a deck with cannons and all the deck items, sails and all the rigging.

I am getting ahead of myself as I still have to finish "The Royal Yacht Mary".

I started by copying all the frames and taping them with clear packing tape on the basswood.  The reason of the packing tape is that this tape will lubricate the saw blade at all times and the use of basswood is that this wood is cheap and once the deck is on you will never see it.

Here are some pictures of the rope coils on deck.  I learned later on that the rope is a bit to large in diameter to the scale of the boat.  I will correct this in my next boat.

Several pictures of what I have presently finished and the next installments will be the masts.  My neighbor has hemmed and stitched the sails and all there is left to do is to dye them brown.  She did an excellent job on the sails of the Bounty.  It is something I have to do myself one of these days.

Rope coils added onto the deck.

Rope coils being created.

Paint job is before I cleaned it up and got the line more even.  Here is the completed boat with the cannons and the leeboards.

Putting cannons together and tying them on to the deck.

Rings for cannons added.  This is not part of the original instructions.

Making rings for rope work on cannons.

Drawing the water line.

I did not like the bits so I redid then in walnut.  Did some comparing of different yachts of different era's.

Creating the leeboards.  For the modelers that do not what a leeboard is, the following is an explanation.  

A leeboard is a lifting foil used by a sailboat, much like a centerboard, but located on the leeward side of the boat. The leeward side is used so that the leeboard is not lifted from the water when the boat heels, or leans under the force of the wind.

Most of the gold painted ornaments are glued and nailed on the Mary.

Different views of the boat.

Railing completed as well as the hull, deck and started on the cabin.  The parts on that is soft metal.

Here I am creating the railing consisting of 1mm x 1mm x 10mm bass wood and walnut.  It was soaked and then with my finger nails I bend it in place, added nails on the traced drawing and let it dry for a couple of days.

deck planking and second planking layer.

Looks like sometimes the pictures are posted not in order even though when I look in the thumbnail view they are.

Here is the second layer of hull planking.

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The following pictures are the contents of the box.  Drawing of the boat itself.  Several pictures of the 1st planking layer of basswood and the second layer of walnut planking.

HMS Mary was the first Royal Yacht of the Royal Navy. She was built in 1660 by the Dutch East India Company. Then she was purchased by the City of Amsterdam and given to King Charles II, on the restoration of the monarchy, as part of the Dutch Gift. She struck rocks off Anglesey in thick fog on 25 March 1675 while en route from Dublin to Chester. Although 39 of 74 crew and passengers managed to get to safety, the wreck quickly broke up. Guns and other artefacts were taken to the Merseyside Museums for conservation and display.

She was the first of some 27 yachts which the king owned between 1660 and 1685. The word yacht derives from a Dutch word jagen, meaning to hunt. She was 52 feet long, with a beam of 19ft (15.8 by 5.8m) and displaced 100 tons. Her hull was copper clad. The Dutch yacht is the fore-runner of the Thames sailing barge. They had a large sail area, but a shallow draught that enabled them to navigate shallow waters. As with a sailing barge, sailing was achieved by means of a leeboard instead of having a deep keel. The shallow draught meant that she needed to carry additional ballast when sailing deeper waters. She was built for luxury with a decorated counter.

I started building, The First Royal Dutch Yacht ”Mary”, 1646 from Mamoli in 2010. After the planking of the hull I put her away as there was little time for any boat building. I started working on her last year. Presently I am working on the masts.

I like this boat but the instructions are horrible and the drawings are all done in freehand. No CAD was used like my Bounty from Constructo. Furthermore, translation was done by an Italian and a dictionary because it seemed like he did not speak English. But all is not lost. The drawings are similar to the Statenjacht Utrecht drawings. So I have been working with those as well.

Excellent book.  Lots of interesting tid-bits and surprises. 

Marc

You may know about this but there is a blog on the Anglo-Dutch Wars (h$$p://anglo-dutch-wars.blogspot.com/)